


Planes.

by Anon1mity



Series: The Raidd Collection [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Airports, Angst, Anxiety Attacks, Aviophobia, CPS/Child Protective Services, Childhood Trauma, Fan Characters, Pre-Sburb/Sgrub, this one's REAL bad and i don't mean that in a writing kinda way
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:47:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28425726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anon1mity/pseuds/Anon1mity
Summary: After the death of his mother, Onyx takes a plane to live with his college-aged brother in Boston. He goes through the airport procedure, trying to sort through his newly-formed trauma during.
Series: The Raidd Collection [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2081859





	Planes.

It all happened so fast. You didn’t even get to say goodbye to her. 

You’re at the airport. CPS gave you two weeks to say your goodbyes to California before you took the plane to Boston. You packed your bags, and one of the social workers took you to the airport. You can’t legally go by yourself, you're a minor. 

The social worker’s name is Cathy. She picked you up at your house at midnight. She tried to talk to you on the car ride to here, asked you what you were into. You didn’t answer.

You feel numb. 

  


The bright, lifeless lights of the airport don’t give you any solace. Neither does the empty customer service voice the bag check attendant gives you. She weighs your suitcase (they took the rest of your stuff to the airport in advance) and takes it. Your last reminder of home.

  


“How long has it been since you’ve seen your brother, Onyx?” she asks. 

“a while.” you respond.

“Oh… okay!” Her voice is too bright. Everything’s too bright. Your head hurts.

You haven’t seen Eric since he moved to get his Fine Arts degree. He said he’s get his Bachelor’s, maybe Master’s, and then come back to 

the two of you. You’d be set in a couple years. You'd have a provider. That can’t happen anymore. 

You vaguely wonder how he’s dealing with it, but you just don’t have the energy to care right now. About that. About anything really, except the sound of your sneakers against the cold stone floor. It doesn’t even feel like you’re the one that’s making that noise. You’re just going through the motions.

  


Taking off your shoes, the pendant your mom gave you. Your phone. You put them in the little box they give you and you step through the metal detector without much of an issue. There are people around. They’re talking about things, not that you can make it out. Nor do you care to.

Cathy brings you to one of the departure gates and sits down next to you. The emptiness that’s been tearing into you has begun to be replaced with dread.

You’re going on a plane. You know what happened the last time one of you went on a plane? They died. It went wrong, and she crashed and burned. You're going to burn.

You’re going to die on this fucking plane. Something’s going to go wrong, someone important is gonna pass out or something and this plane you’re about to get on is about to crash and burn. Your breathing picks up, knocking you out of your trance and into something much worse. Hyper-awareness.  
You’re going to die in this plane. You’re going to die and this plane is going to crash and burn and Nick’s never going to know. He’s just gonna see on the news that a plane coming from Cali crashed and he’s going to have to guess. They’re all going to have to guess what the fuck happened to you.

You’re going to die.

You’re going to die.

You’re going to die. 

You’re going to die you’re going to die you’regoingtodieyou’regoingtodieyou’regoingtodieyou’regoingtodieyou’regoingtodieyou’regoingtodieyou’regoingtodieyou’regoingtodieyou’regoingtodieyou’regoingtodieyou’regoingtodieyou’regoingtodieyou’regoingtodieyou’regoingtodieyou’regoingtodieyou’regoingtodieyou’regoingtodie-

  


You feel Cathy’s hand on your shoulder, which knocks you out of your spiral for a second. ...You didn’t notice how hard you were breathing. Or that you were starting to tear up. People are looking at you. You know they’re trying not to stare, but you can feel their eyes on you. You’re making a damn fool of yourself, stop that... 

“You want some water, Onyx? I can get us both something to eat to calm you down...” she asks. You give her a half-nod. 

“Come with me then. You can sit off to the side if you don’t want people to see you,” she continues, giving you a little smile. She takes your hand, which you’d normally reject, but... you need something. Anything.

It’s just McDonald’s. You ask for just a burger and fries, and she pays out of pocket. Got you a Coke too. It’s a bit comforting, being able to just do something as simple as eat like this. There are less people around. It’s not perfect, but the silence isn’t as deafening when you're actually doing something. She asks you if you just want to wait here, away from the gate. The plane’s gonna take off in a half hour, but you focus on the fries instead of the implication of that statement.

You’re going to die in a half ho- Just focus on the fries. Focus. 

  


Cathy sits next to you as you finish your food. ...when’s the last time you ate? You didn’t feel hungry before, but now that you’re actually eaten something it’s starting to resurface. You ask her if she could go back again, mumbling something about not having eaten all day, and she nods. She gets you a bit more this time, and for the first time in a while you’re relieved. It’s almost funny that you’re relieved over something as shitty as McDonald’s fries.

... You should probably tell Nick about your impending doom the plane coming in soon.

  


> **[ aggravatedDaemon has begun pestering grotesqueAmphibian. ]**
> 
> [AD]: plane soon.
> 
> [AD]: seeya.

  


You almost think he’s asleep until you seem him come online a few minutes later.

  


> [GA]: ...Seeya soon, man
> 
> [GA]: Visit, yeah ??? :’-)
> 
> [GA]: I’m here if you need me
> 
> [GA]: Anything
> 
> [AD]: yeah, i will.
> 
> [AD]: ...the cps lady got me mcdonalds.
> 
> [AD]: i don’t think i’ve eaten all day.
> 
> [AD]: kind of lost track. 
> 
> [GA]: ...Oh
> 
> [AD]: it’s fine now, though.
> 
> [AD]: gonna see if i can get her to get the shitty plane wifi.
> 
> [AD]: so we can talk.
> 
> [AD]: i’ll be honest with you, man.
> 
> [AD]: if i can’t talk to someone i am going to fucking die on that plane.
> 
> [GA]: Yeah, of course
> 
> [GA]: I can stay up for you man :-) 
> 
> [GA]: Anything for my bro 
> 
> [AD]: ...yeah. 
> 
> [AD]: thanks.
> 
> [AD]: ......love you, man.
> 
> [GA]: ...Love you too, bro 

  


You continue talking with Nick as the minutes tick down. It comes by both much faster and much slower than you thought it would. You only notice that it’s hit 2:30 when Cathy taps you on the shoulder.

  
“Hey Onyx, they’re calling people on now. Let’s not miss it.”

“...yeah.” 

  


And onward you march. To your doom. 


End file.
